


The Felicity Smoak Effect

by inlovewithimpossibility



Series: Snapshots [19]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode: s07e11 Past Sins, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 21:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17609690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: Alice has worked at Star City First for three years now.This isn’t the first time Oliver Queen’s made a TV appearance. The guy was mayor for heaven’s sake. He should be more comfortable in front of cameras than most.[Missing moment from 7x11 told from the perspective of a worker at the TV show as Felicity eases Oliver's nerves before the first interview]





	The Felicity Smoak Effect

Alice has worked at Star City First for three years now.

The program was started just after the Arrow supposedly died, which of course the city now knows to not be true. That was just when the city’s protector, Oliver Queen, took a summer-long vacation with his then-girlfriend.

Alice has never particularly had a problem with the Green Arrow. Sure, some of his methods have been a little out there in the past but Star City wouldn’t still be standing if it wasn’t for him and his team and she completely and utterly suspects there have been many other threats that they’ve gotten a handle on before the city was ever truly endangered.

The reveal that the man under the hood is Oliver Queen, however, did come as a huge surprise. Alice never would have guessed that the playboy ex-billionaire would come back from five years lost at sea to don a hood and fight the crime in his city. She guesses that’s what secret identities are for though.

This isn’t the first time Oliver Queen’s made a TV appearance. The guy was mayor for heaven’s sake. He should be more comfortable in front of cameras than most.

Now, however, he looks more nervous than she’s ever seen him. He’s completely ignoring Laurel Lance who’s sat right next to him. Alice finds that a little strange, ever since the city’s new DA was found after being held in a cell for two years, the exes turned friends who were seen together at least twice a week before Laurel supposedly died are rarely seen together in public and when they are, it’s always with others.

Oliver’s fiddling with his fingers, flicking them back and forth between each other and Alice frowns, wondering whether that’s some sort of archer thing or just a nervous tick.

There’s a noise from the end of the studio that catches Oliver’s attention and Alice watches as his entire demeanor changes. His tense shoulders relax a little, his hand flattens against his leg and he visibly lets out a breath with his eyes locked on whoever made the noise.

Following his gaze, everything clicks into place in Alice’s head.

At the other end of the studio, apologizing profusely for bumping into someone, is Felicity Smoak.

Alice remembers when Felicity Smoak first burst onto the tabloids. Promoted out of obscurity from a position in the IT department of Queen Consolidated to the private EA of Oliver Queen, the rumors of their supposed torrid love affair was all then Starling City could talk about for months. The two were rarely seen without each other, you were want to find a figure of the billionaire in the press without his trusty gorgeous, blonde sidekick by his side. Then QC fell and Ray Palmer came to town, seemingly just as smitten with Miss Smoak as his predecessor at the company. He took it a step further, promoting her to Vice President before leaving the entire company to her when he died tragically in an explosion that took the top five floors off of his company’s building.

When Oliver Queen announced he was running for mayor, the city fell in love with the relationship between he and Felicity Smoak all over again. There were no rumors of torrid affairs or derogatory articles about Felicity’s gold-digging nature like there had been when they were CEO and EA. Instead, the press was firmly on ring-watch, completely certain that the mayoral candidate was going to put a ring on his beautiful blonde boss lady before the run was over.

Star City wasn’t disappointed and in an adorable waterside proposal at a Christmas light switch-on, the prospective first couple of the city were finally engaged. However, Star City was also beginning to learn that Oliver Queen’s life was one to be marked by tragedy and their limo was shot up, leaving Felicity paralyzed from the waist down.

Alice remembers being so impressed by the resilience of Felicity Smoak during that year. Bouncing back from an injury like that, returning to her company to launch an incredible piece of technology that revolutionized the city before regaining her ability to walk by some feat of technology that Alice won’t even pretend to understand.

It seemed, however, that the recovery from her injury was too much for the couple and they broke off their engagement and the city descended into chaos along with it. Genesis Day and Havenrock, the only time Alice considered moving away from her beloved city that she had called home for so long.

But the Green Arrow and Oliver Queen had been there, bringing Star City through it all. He fought for the city by day as the mayor and by night as the Green Arrow. Through the Throwing Star Killer, Cayden James and Ricardo Diaz, Oliver Queen lead the charge and brought his city through it.

In the meantime, he made his way back to the beautiful blonde that had stood by side from the start of it all. The sudden appearance of a pre-teen son and a shotgun marriage in Central City shocked the city but soon enough, Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak were back on Star City’s radar as a true power couple.

Until the shock confession that sent the city into a tailspin and fractured Oliver Queen’s family to pieces as he headed to prison, supposedly for life. Alice had been so shocked initially but her next thought was immediately of Felicity Smoak and Queen’s son who vanished from the city along with their incarcerated leader. Rumors sprung up of witness protection which Alice supposed made sense, with all of the enemies the Green Arrow stocked up over the years, the revelation of his identity being simultaneous with his incarceration, that left his wife and son open for attack.

Now with the apprehension of Ricardo Diaz and the release of Oliver Queen from prison, the Queen’s lives have been thrown under the spotlight once again. Oliver certainly seems different, like the weight of his dual identities being merged is playing on him. Alice isn’t stupid, she knows that the reveal wasn’t at all optional but she cannot help but admire this move towards transparency that Oliver is trying now.

And of course, he’s doing it all with Felicity Smoak at his side.

Now the blonde is making her way across the TV studio, dressed in an adorable red polka dot top that has Alice wanting to ask where she got it before considering that she most likely cannot afford _anything_ that graces Felicity’s Smoak’s skin. Her heels are clicking on the floor and she ignores the assistants who try to advise her against stepping up on the platform, making a beeline for her husband.

“Hi.” She smiles brightly, her hand cupping his cheek as she bends down to kiss him softly in greeting. Her husband is more calculating, his hand rising slowly to cup her elbow. It’s almost reverent and Alice wonders whether he’s still trying to convince himself that she’s in front of him.

“Hey.” He responds just as softly as his touch and Alice is taken aback for a moment. She hasn’t heard Oliver Queen speak that softly since… She hasn’t heard Oliver Queen speak that softly _ever._ There’s a lightness to his voice that she’s never heard from him as he gazes up at his wife with such a different expression from the scowl he’s been wearing since he got here that it almost gives Alice whiplash.

“Hi, Laurel.” Felicity grins at the blonde in the chair next to her husband and the DA even smiles a little, completely different from the sour expression that’s been on _her_ face.

What is it about Felicity Smoak and vigilantes?

“Sorry I’m late, I was working on my security system and I may have gotten a little distracted by my coding but I think I finally have the first phase working perfectly. I mean there’s still a couple of kinks to iron out but when isn’t there when it comes to technology? I think this might actually really work though, it could be really effective.” She explains with a grin, her hands landing on her husband’s shoulders at the end of her little ramble.

“That’s okay, thank you for coming.” Oliver replies and Alice can tell from the slight shake in his voice that he wasn’t entirely sure she would show up. She cannot imagine what these two have been through in the last year so she’s not entirely surprised but from the look on Felicity’s face, she sure is.

“Of course. I’m not going anywhere. I’m glue, baby, remember?” She smiles and Alice can tell there’s some sort of history to her comment if the sparkle in her eye and the soft smile it elicits from Oliver is anything to go by.

“It’s strange, I just… I feel like there’s more riding on this since…” He trails off but Felicity seems to know exactly what he’s talking about as she nods her head, drawing her hand up his neck in an intimate caress.

“I know but she’ll come around.” She speaks with such evident promise in her voice that Alice believes what she’s saying even though she doesn’t know what on earth they’re talking about.

“Mrs. Queen…”

“It’s Smoak.”

The combined power of their voices in response to the assistant after the soft tones they’ve been using with each other makes Alice jump a little. Oliver is glaring again but Felicity is still smiling, her response a complete contrast to Oliver’s even though they spoke the exact same words.

“Sorry, Mrs. Smoak, we need to get started soon.” The assistant prompts and Felicity nods, dropping another kiss to Oliver’s lips.

Alice keeps her eyes on Oliver. It’s strange, he hasn’t initiated any of the contact since Felicity arrived, it’s all been her, but he seems to revel in it nonetheless. The way his eyes stay closed for just a second too long after she pulls back from the kiss and the slow way his hand returns to his leg when she steps out of his reach.

“I’m just going to stand over there. You’re going to be amazing. Good luck! Good luck Laurel!” Felicity grins and moves in a blur of color and blonde hair that has Alice trying to hide a smile.

When she looks back at Oliver, he’s doing the same thing and he looks infinitely more relaxed than he did before his wife’s arrival. Even Laurel looks like she might be ready to speak some actual words.

Alice guesses that’s just the Felicity Smoak effect.


End file.
